Bengaluru: The city police on Thursday night brought two suspects from Patna to the city in connection with the Church Street blast on December 28 last year.

The police acquired a body warrant for Haidar Ali and his associate Umar Siddiqui, both suspects in jail for their alleged role in the serial blasts at the Hunkar rally of Narendra Modi in Patna in October 2013.

Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Alok Kumar, who is heading the Special Investigation Team that is probing the case, said: “CCTV footage and call records have yielded little results,” he said. Explosives used in the Hunkar rally blasts and the Bodh Gaya blasts in Bihar were similar to those used in the Church Street blast. This has led the city police to bring the two suspects to the city and grill them for any information that may provide a lead.

The two suspects, however, were not involved as they were in NIA custody, the day of the Church Street blast.

Yadagiri: Police in Yadagiri have denied reports by some media groups that an alleged SIMI operative lived in the city or that NIA officers and Andhra Police had come looking for him.

“We have no information either about the reported existence of a SIMI operative in the district or the reported visit of NIA officers or Andhra Police to the district,” Superintendent of Police M Mutturaya clarified.

Earlier, a Kannada TV channel reported that Mohammad alias Guddu, a SIMI operative, had lived in Yadagiri for months and had purchased 20 mobile phone SIM cards. The report also said that the NIA officer visited some places, including a cloth store here.

The report came after a 17-year-old boy, said to be a Sangh Parivar activist, posting as a Muslim on Twitter claimed Bengaluru blast responsibility and threatened to carry out more such blasts.

Bengaluru: A low intensity blast rocked Church Street in Bengaluru on Sunday December 28. The explosion, which was minor, took place outside Coconut Grove restaurant.

A woman was killed and three persons were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded on the crowded Church Street at 8.35 p.m. on Sunday.

The deceased woman, hailing from Chennai, was identified as Bhavani Devi (38). The injured persons were identified as Karthick, Sandeep and Vinay. While Sandeep and Vinay were admitted to HOSMAT Hospital, Karthick and Bhavani Devi were shifted to Mallya Hospital.

No organisation has claimed responsibility for the blast so far.

The IED wrapped in a piece of cloth was placed behind an ornamental flower bush in front of Coconut Grove, a popular joint on the Church Street. The injured were pedestrians who were passing by. People ran helter-skelter after the blast while some others thought was a fire cracker burst. One of the persons injured was even thrown to a distance of over five feet, eyewitnesses said.

An auto driver named Narasimha Murthy rushed the injured to Mallya hospital in his auto, with the help of people who were at the spot.

Top police officials including city police commissioner M N Reddi rushed to the spot and are collecting evidence.

As soon as explosion took place, people were seen running helter skelter and eyewitnesses said that lot of confusion prevailed at the spot. The police have cordoned off the area.

M N Reddi said that additional police forces including the KSRP, canine squads and forensic experts have been pressed into action. He said the injured were hit by shrapnels from the IED.

Asked whether there were threats to the city, Reddi said there was a general threat perception due to the festivities, the New Year and recent happenings, but no definite threat, and the police have been alert.

The police commissioner has reportedly sent communique to all police stations, sources said and asked the Bengalureans to be on high alert. “One low intensity blast on Church Street. 2 injured, 1 serious. All requested to be alert & inform 100 if any unintended object found,” Reddi stated in his Twitter account.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today announced a compensation of Rs five lac to the kin of a woman who was killed in the low-intensity explosion outside a popular restaurant here that also left three persons injured.

Speaking to reporters after visiting the injured at a hospital here in the wee hours, Siddaramaiah said the government would provide a compensation of Rs five lac to the family of the woman, who succumbed to injuries sustained in the explosion last night.